What’s the secret Quality connection between Italy and Japan? The Pareto Chart! Signore Pareto provided his 80/20 rule and Dr. Ishikawa created the Pareto Chart and included it in his 7 Basic Quality Tools. Voila! (that’s French) An international pairing was born to help pave the problem solving path. Vilfredo…
Fishbone + Ishikawa = Fishikawa! We know him best for this essential root cause tool, but did you know Dr. Ishikawa developed the first Kaizens, aka Rapid Improvement Events? And where would we be without his 7 Basic Quality Tools? Check out this Fishbone Webinar created in his honor and…
Who said “Quality is free, but it’s not a gift"? Who was the first non-doctor to create a vaccine? Who maintained that zero defects was the job of management as much as the front line? Philip Crosby! He said it was less expensive to do it right the first time…
Who put the “Six” in Six Sigma? Who’s the man behind the first Malcolm Baldrige Award and how did he get so good at betting on race horses? This year would have marked Bill Smith’s 91st birthday. Mr. Smith is credited with coining the term “Six Sigma” and developing the…
Do you have a hidden factory? Do you know employees who always have time to do it over but never time to get it right? Did you know organizations waste up to 40% of their capacity this way? Well, raise a glass to the quality guru who championed the capture…
He was a cigar-chomping, salty-tongued educator who wrote a manufacturing love story. Eli Goldratt left us way too soon but will always be appreciated as the man who constantly provoked people to truly think. This year would have marked Eliyahu Goldratt’s 73rd birthday. Born in Israel, Mr. Goldratt was a…
Dr. Deming was amazing, but who was his teacher? Who produced the PDCA Cycle? Who conceived of Statistical Process Control? The modest man behind the scenes, another fascinating product of the Hawthorne Works, was none other than Walter Shewhart. This year would have marked Walter Shewhart’s 129th birthday – truly…
Who is the Grand Poobah of Toyota Production System? The Wizard of Lean? His Royal Eminence of Efficiency? Sure, he had some help, but Taiichi Ohno was the behind-the-scenes master of what is now known as Lean Manufacturing. Time to appreciate a significant quality forbear! This year would have marked…
What do you know about Sakichi Toyoda? Did you know he was born on Valentine’s Day? That he started out in the textile business? That he came up with the 5 Whys root cause guessing game? Oh, and that he founded Toyota Industries Company!? This year would have marked Sakichi…
What do you call it when a garage door stops closing before it hits your head? The Hokey Pokey? No, a Poke-yoke! Lucky for us, Shigeo Shingo baked this mistake-proofing technique into the Toyota Production System and the rest is history. This year would have marked Shigeo Shingo’s 111th birthday,…